Expectations Soar for T-Mobiles G1

When asked how many devices he expects T-Mobile to ship, Tseng said he
wasn't at liberty to say, which tells me the Android team knows but is sworn to
secrecy by T-Mobile. Why not? It's the carrier's product.
Last week, a T-Mobile spokesperson confirmed for me that T-Mobile had
tripled the number of phones it initially made available for the Oct. 22 launch
and sold them all.

To what do I attribute the uptick in G1 sales? A couple things. First, it's
a solid alternative to the iPhone, as AllThingsDigital's Walt Mossberg, New
York Times' David Pogue and eWEEK's own Andrew Garcia attested.

Second, I think the iPhone's amazing success has opened the world's eyes to the
power of Web-based phones, and now they are expecting different, but not
necessarily superior, smart phone experiences. The G1 seems to provide that.
Enderle Group's Rob Enderle, who tested the device last week, agreed and told
me this:

"It's a good phone, and it is more exclusive than the iPhone at the
moment, and one of the few 3G phones for T-Mobile users, all of which help
sales significantly. The iPhone also helped blaze the trail by making those
that preferred T-Mobile but wanted something like the iPhone desire the G1. It
shows potential for the platform as well and suggests that it will do very well
as it matures and as better-looking phones come out. Android has legs, and it
is a nice piece of work."

All of this begs the question: If Android is as cool as folks perceive it to
be, will other carriers hop onboard? Greg Sterling, of Sterling Market Intelligence,
told me the early sell-out of preorders will force other carriers to accelerate
their Android development efforts.
After all, while the pie may be huge, it may be juiciest right now with the
holidays coming and before we slide into a more prolonged recession.

"If it's as aggressively priced as it is and it's pretty good, people will
buy it because people don't want to switch to AT&T," Sterling
added, alluding to AT&T's sketchy 3G network experience for the iPhone 3G.